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USA's Kaitlyn Farrington wins halfpipe gold

Kelly Clark, 30, entered as the heavy favorite to win gold here as she became the most dominant rider after Vancouver. But it was American teammate XXXX who added to her resume. Clark easily was the first to

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia -- It didn't take long for the Farrington family to come up with a formula for how they were going to pay for their teenage daughter, Kaitlyn, to start traveling the country to participate in snowboarding contests.

If it was a short trip from their home near Sun Valley, Idaho, somewhere like Jackson Hole, Wyo. or Summit County, Colo., Gary Farrington would need to sell one cow from their ranch at auction. If Kaitlyn needed to bring along a coach, he might need to sell two.

So before Kaitlyn could head off for school, and before her father could head to the cattle auction, she would help sort through the livestock and put the selected cow into the corral and then into the trailer.

Eventually, as Kaitlyn's snowboarding career took off, the Farringtons had sold every cow off the ranch.

"I'm sure they do not miss those cows today," Farrington said Wednesday night, shortly after winning the women's Olympic halfpipe competition.

It was not a surprise to see an American woman atop the podium, but it was a shock for it to be Farrington. She was the final snowboarder named to the U.S. team, and that didn't happen until mid-January after the final qualifying event at Mammoth Mountain, Calif.

"It took me about a week to sink in that I had qualified for the team because we went to X Games right after, so it was all just so fast," Farrington said. "I kind of believed it when I was on my flight to Sochi, and now to leave as a gold medalist, I'm just beside myself about it."

She arrived here in Sochi just hoping to be among the 12 women to qualify for finals. It wasn't until after her fourth run on Wednesday, after two runs in the qualifying heat and two more in semifinals, that she even thought about winning a medal. She would have been happy with bronze, and thrilled with silver.

But gold? Gold medals were for riders like teammates Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter, and Australian Torah Bright, each of whom won gold in the past 12 years.

Yet it was Farrington, though, who laid down the night's first big run, scoring a 91.75 in what she later described as the best ride of her life. It was clean, had plenty of style, and a slew of big tricks – including a backside 900 and a pair of 720s.

Then she had to wait out six more riders – as well as an excruciatingly long time for the judges to score Clark's final run, before realizing she had won. As Clark's third-place score flashed on the board, her parents began to scream.

"Are you kidding me?" Gary Farrington yelled. "My little girl!"

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Gary and Suz Farrington had just wanted to watch their daughter's Olympic debut. They had quickly arranged for visas and purchased plane tickets – imagine how many cows they would have had to sell to buy two flights to Russia! – and attended each of Farrington's three training sessions at the halfpipe. But just like their daughter, they didn't imagine a medal when they finished the 2.5 hour trip to the halfpipe from Sochi on Wednesday afternoon.

They had even planned on attending a hockey game on the coast on Thursday, figuring they would have some free time before their flight home Friday since Farrington's competition would be over.

Hockey plans were scrapped, and now they will be attending a medal ceremony in Sochi. There will be another press conference, a stop at the USA House and an appearance on the "TODAY Show."

"We're booked," Gary Farrington said, starting with dinner together for the first time in Russia, and then to what Farrington predicted would be a lively celebration.

"I'm going to dance my face off," Farrington said.

Those will be the first moments as Farrington begins her life as the reigning Olympic champion, a title Clark, silver-medalist Bright and fourth-place finisher Teter have all shared. Like Farrington, both Clark and Teter won gold in their first trip to the Olympics.

"Kaitlyn is amazing. Nobody can never count her out, ever. She's just got so much style, and judges seem to be rewarding that style, clean style," Teter said of Farrington. "Whoever would have known she was going to win this thing? I don't think anybody knew that was coming. So surprise, surprise."

Clark, the 30-year-old three-time Olympic medalist, and Bright, who on Monday will compete in her third snowboarding event of these Games, beamed in the post-competition flower ceremony and press conference.

Teter, who was bumped off the podium by Clark's final run, said she was happy to see Farrington and Clark earn medals, but said she believed she should have been on the podium, too.

"I'm not super-stoked with the judging, obviously, but I had a blast," Teter said. "I just thought I maybe should have had a little bit of a higher score. I did all the tricks big and clean, maybe got a little bit underscored, I don't know. But I love riding halfpipe, this is an amazing job to have. This is my third Olympics, and I was hoping for a podium. What can you do though?"